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Altering Digital Elements : Scatters

I was creating this page and making a list of tutorials I would like to share. The ideas were coming slowly and it felt like I was making it more difficult than it needed to be. Well…I was! I stopped and realized that at that moment I had something I could share. It is a fairly simple tutorial, simple idea. I also know that everyone scraps their pages differently. Some may fuss with customizing each element and some may not. One a good day, I like to play around and try things out. This was a good day, so I thought I would share this quick step-by-step on how I alter scattered elements.

It’s fun to do when you have an element that is a scatter of paper circles or beads or confetti. Some scatters that come in kits might be larger than the area where you want to place them or maybe you want to spread it out a bit more. I am one of those that likes to spread it out a bit.

Let’s get to moving those little bits and pieces!

Step 1: Place the scatter on your layout and position it so the heaviest amount of scatter is where you want it to be. This way we won’t have to move too much of it around and lose the integrity of it.

Step 2: Make sure your scatter layer is still active. Select the Rectangular Marquee Tool and draw a box around the portion of your scatter you want to move.

Step 3. Then, switch to the Move Tool ([fac_icon icon=”arrows” font_size=”13″]) and place the cursor inside the selected area, and drag the selected scatter pieces to their new location on your layout (or page). You have two options at this point: (1) Leave the newly moved pieces as they are (2) Resize and/or rotate the items while they are still selected.

To resize them, put your cursor in the corner of the marquee box and it will turn into a double-side arrow ([fac_icon icon=”expand” font_size=”13″]). At this point, you can hold the SHIFT key to resize while dragging one of the corrners and keep the element’s proportions.

To rotate, place your cursor at the corner of the marquee box and move it slightly away from the corner, and the double-side arrow will become a curved-double-sided arrow. Click near the corner and start to rotate your element(s).

Now, you have a scatter place exactly how and where you want it! This just gives you a bit more control over where everything will be arranged on your page and that is always a plus for me.

This is my page after I have altered the scattered element.

And, here’s my finished page:

Side note: Another idea, while your item is selected, is to Cut-and-Paste a small portion of the scatter onto a new layer. This gives you even more control to move it around and decide on placement.